For weeks I'd been having "prodromal" pattern labor. At 38.7 weeks I was 50% effaced, 0 cm. At 39.7 weeks I was 75% effaced, 4cm dilated. How we got to 4 like that? No idea.

I agreed to a membrane sweep but after a lot of cramping and contractions there was no "Active Labor". At 40.3 weeks I was back down to 2cm, but very stretchy, and agreed to another sweep. The midwife felt very strongly we needed to get baby out sooner rather than later, and I agreed.

So yesterday we walked about 4 miles, took a prenatal yoga class, DTD, and started on EPO, vaginally and orally. I was EXHAUSTED by bedtime!

At various points in the night I was wakened by the strongest ctx to date, and had to get up to urinate to deal with the sensation. Finally at 3:00 am I could not stay in bed. Around 3:45 a strong pattern emerged. At the same time the ctx were so intense that I was vocalizing, but they were anywhere from 4-6 minutes apart.

MW wanted us in there as soon as we had this kind of labor. We arrived at the birth center at 5:30. I had one ctx on the toilet, and had bloody show. I told the MW that I felt lots of pressure on the perineum. She got me on the bed to check, and said, "Um, I'm not feeling any cervix!"

Between 5:30 & 6 the waters broke all over the floor! Another MW came in and wanted me on the bed in this crazy position. I was side-lying with one leg in the air. Baby's heart tones were dipping a lot during the pushes so they put me on O2 for the rest of the time. I ended up doing a butterfly pose on my back in the final pushing. I had to blow through every other contraction which was hell!

Baby was born at 6:53am - praise God! The pain was excruciating at times but because of the incredible level of care I received we made it! I still cannot get over how different the experience was from my firstborn - and still is. Without all those drugs in his system baby was able to nurse immediately like a champ.

Baby measured just shy of 9 lbs - a half pound heavier than the first. (My first was an emergency c-section after 24 hours of back labor and 2 hours of pushing with no progress/CPD.)